Phixieous
by Aymerysage
Summary: yaoi,1x2heero is top, AU. When the worlds have progressed beyond that of the earth and the colonies, one ship, called the Phixieous, manned by one gifted engineer and one silent pilot, make their way to the system that of Pars and find themselves in a big
1. Phixieous

**Phixieous**

Pairing: 1x2, 3+4, 13x6x5

Warning: AU, angst, humor, sap, fighting, blood, you know the whole shebang. I don't feel like telling you the entire list.

Summary: When the worlds have progressed beyond that of earth and the colonies, one ship, called the Phixieous, manned by one gifted engineer and pilot, make their way to the system that of Pars and find themselves in a bigger fix not even the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers can fight, until one agent, codenamed Heero Yuy is sent to deal with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to Gundam Wing and my inspiration for this story and the clothing, came from a picture someone else drew. I don't know who they are or I would gladly give the name, but sadly I don't. So don't sue or do anything drastic. I have no $! And I also have to admit that I used Andromeda for inspiration as well. I think I may use Harper's neck jack as a necessary part of the story.

**_AN: IF SOMETHING IS CONFUSING I HAVE COMPILED A GLOSSARY FOR BOTH YOU AND ME. _**(I TEND TO FORGET THINGS SO A GLOSSARY IS A HANDY PLACE FOR ME TO LOOK SOMETHING UP). **_I HOPE I HAVE ANSWERED ANY CONFUSION IN THIS GLOSSARY. IT GOES BY PAGE NUMBER._**

The Phixieous' Crew

**Duo Maxwell, engineer, and scientist-earthian kitsuna half-breed experiment, as well as a hidden weapon. Details explained later in story.**

**Trowa Barton, healer, and pilot-earthian culivateur half-breed experiment**

**Gizmo, the ship Phixieous' AI core**

Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers Headquarters

**Heero Yuy, special agent in charge of unlawful weaponry, and uses of ships-earthian wolf hybrid (specially engineered), Division 1**

**Wufei Chang, special agent in charge of unlawful weaponry, and uses of ships-earthian tiger hybrid (specially engineered), Division 1, defunct from team.**

**Treize Kushrenada, Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers General-Division 1 leader of unlawful weaponry and uses of ships (dead)**

Founder of Winner Reposition Industries and Mayor of Sutcliff in sector x (senior Winner)

**Quatre Rababa Winner, doctor and sole heir to the Winner Reposition Industries.**

**(Below are unfinished. I haven't figured out Relena and Quatre's roles yet)**

Peacecraft (something)

**Zechs Marquise (aka Milliardo Peacecraft), sole heir to the Peacecraft business, and also part of a team of transporters made up of Kushrenada (dead) and Wufei.**

**Relena Peacecraft, second heir apparent of Milliardo to**

Chapter 1: Phixieous

"Alright Gizmo, all systems seem to be functioning. Just make sure to calibrate system 649. That take-off was just a little too shaky for my liking."

"Yes Duo. Shall I alert Trowa of the change?" a female voice spoke through the room, seeming to be cut and pasted, and distorted in places.

"Yes, please. And also tell him our next mission is taking place in the y sector. We should receive status later today."

"Of course." With that the voice beeped out and the room was left in silence.

The man, called Duo, smiled up at his baby…his creation, as he pulled the cord from the wet ring data port in his neck. It enabled him to visit and maintain Gizmo so she stayed at peak efficiency. It was also a way to further find ways to surpass even the systems basic technology on regulation ships.

The ships AI core, which powered the ship and gave it a personality like no other. Gizmo, the name he had given the ship, was inspired by one of his favorite old time movies that Trowa and he had stumbled upon on during one of their trips to Earth's decrepit universe. The AI core enabled the ship to have a personality that rivaled that of a human, or any other intelligent being. They could think, respond and control the entire ship without command if they saw fit. One may think this could be dangerous that a ship could not be trusted with that kind of power, but Duo had taken that into precaution. Gizmo was his friends, his only friend during those dark ages he called his youth. They protected each other, kept each other company during and after his home was destroyed and his family taken away from him because he was a genetic anomaly. He thought that that was how the system became too…human to him. He had created the system when he was only ten, when he was left alone on his home colony to fend for himself after a rather grueling undertaking that involved escaping a past he never knew he had to begin with and leaving behind a shattered present.

Maybe that was why it was constantly getting into tough scrapes. The ship, its AI core, and its crew were widely known…unfortunately.

Duo sighed, pulling on the high red turtle neck to his cut up shirt. It was his own creation; it only covered his throat and half of his chest. He liked to create his own clothing, give it his own seal of approval. Then he pulled on his red vest that had a high collar, almost like bat wings with a yellow lining on the inside. He then tightened his black sweater low over his waist and baggy black khakis that were practically cloth with multiple pockets. He liked lots of storage. On his arms were gloves, cut off at his biceps and ending low on his small wrists. It was his favorite outfit.

"Duo?" a deep voice announced itself through the ships intercom and Duo smiled to himself as he swung towards the second story walkway, flipping casually onto the metal surface. This was his personal jungle gym, his territory…no one could trump him in his domain.

"What's up Trow-bear?" Duo smirked at the grunt and could practically see the only visible eye of his partner, twitch.

"Stop playing with your appearance and get up here." It went dead then and Gizmo popped through.

"You know Duo, if you spent as much time on me as you do your clothing I could rival the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers, Hyperspacial's war ship."

"Now there's a mouthful. Now Gizmo, if I made you that powerful, they'd have me shut you down. No one's allowed that amount of fire power unless you want them on your tail…and I don't." Duo placed his hand on the print reader, which allowed him access in and out of the AI core. No one but himself and Trowa could get in there…something else he accomplished on his free time. Not only did it read finger print, hand size, heat and electrical waves but also a heartbeat monitor. When the beat was erratic Gizmo did a mandatory body scan. If there were unknown bodies present the doors wouldn't open.

"Duo, just in case you haven't forgotten. Trowa wants you to know that after we exit slip stream we are meeting with the Pars southern border patrol. Before we enter their territory we need to register our ship."

"Alright…and let me guess, can't party all night and drink booze until the wee morning hours?" Duo smiled cheekily as he steeped onto the 'elevator beam'; well that's what he liked to call it. It was really called some fancy shamansy name that was really uncalled for and took to many syllables and slurs to maintain.

"That's right. And before you forget…also…there's still a little 'itch' in my outer hull that's been bugging me."

"No pun intended right?" Duo stepped off the platform heading straight towards a set of double doors that led to Trowa and the ships head command.

"Duo, I'll have you know that I don't like humor about 'bugs' in my system."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Forgot about that." Duo snickered as the automatic door slid open revealing the cockpit and one irate Trowa Barton. His friend was a unique one. For one thing, the first thing you noticed about him was his hair. It wasn't the color, it was the style. It looked like a tropical wind and whole load of gel was thrown into a blender to come up with a bang reaching antigravity hairdo status over his right eye, which, he might add were the richest forest green he had ever seen since planet side. "Well, my love, you look ravishing." And he was. The man wore leather pants like a second skin, plus a green button up shirt that he had gotten for him for his 21st birthday. Over that was a black vest that appeared to have just been thrown on last minute. On his head was a pair of pilot glasses, which were specially made for slip stream drivers.

It was really his own special design. After the debacle with interstellar special issue, he decided that Trowa's, his and Gizmo's well being was more important then their special issue. He had made the glass sheer unbreakable, a glass that he had used on the ships…Phixieous, the word meaning 'to put into flight', outer hull's windows. It also had the ships schematics so when Phixieous received any nasty blows from floating space crap, entering into a planets gravity field, or another jealous transport and distribution ship, he would have the low down. The endless possibilities…

"So Tro-bear how goes my lady luck today?"

"She's running fine Duo. The new mission from the y sector should come in shortly. The statements that we received a week ago are still unchangeable. We are to pick up and deliver a shipment of confidential packages from the Pars Southern Border. What's in these packages is not for us to know. Meaning you can keep your grubby kitty curiosity to a nil on this." Trowa climbed out of his seat and stretched languidly as Duo walked over to the control panel situated behind the slip stream chair.

"Well, I guess I can slate my curiosity if I must." Duo sighed dramatically as he punched into Gizmo's next scheduled stop for provisions and parts. "The AI core has only a tiny glitch that I need to fix when we get to the y sector. Gizmo says it's an itch." He shook his head grinning at the thought of a ship trying to itch itself.

"She knows best." Trowa walked over to his partner, resting his arm around the others shoulder and peering down at the monitor. "Do you think this time we'll be able to get better cuisine. I've been craving for a corn dog."

"God, you're just as bad as ever. You can't get over that circus thing can you?" Duo turned around leaning on the council.

"It was fun." Trowa in turn crossed his arms over his chest, muscles hinted through the wiry arms. "I know what you're going to be doing…"

"Oh, what's that, know it all."

"You're going to be hitting on anything with two legs and a humanoid gene at that Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers compound." Trowa smirked.

"Oh, nice. You know me so well Mr. my dicks been cut off to preserve my intelligence."

"Um, excuse me boys, as much fun as it is listening to your ever witty banter, the Pars Southern border is calling." Gizmo took over the view screen, eliminating the scene of endless space to a conference call waiting panel. "Whenever you're ready."

"Give it the go ahead Giz." Duo folded his arms over his chest, relaxing into a defensive stance. He never really liked the y sector. It was filled to the brim with lower then low life scum. The kind of scum that you scrapped of the bottom of docked ships after a hyperspacial time storm. Real nasty suckers. Like earth hurricanes but ones that create black holes if you're not careful to avoid being caught in the middle. But he'd never agree to a deal with known scum. No, he had morals. Every one of their shipments was golden and checked out with flying colors.

"Ah, Duo Maxwell, still as breathtaking as ever."

"Save the sweet talk Demavont, give us what we want. What's the skinny on this confidential shipment? You know we don't do anything illegal, and if Gizmo finds anything amiss with it…we won't take it."

"You hurt me Duo." The man on the monitor was one of their most well known customers in the y sector. So far, he had done nothing wrong to warrant the 3rd degree, but a confidentiality shipment was one thing they did not do. But Demavont so far had only shipped docile things such as mining equipment, special software's and certain minerals no one else could find. Pars Southern border was a little place on Pars where one mineral existed that everyone wanted to have…if they could afford it. Gundanium alloy. It was the hardest known substance in the y and even the x and z sectors. One reason why all the low lives in the universe flocked to the y sector, more weapons were made there then anywhere else in the galaxy. Another reason why the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers headquarters was stationed there as well.

One good perk of being a valued client, they were sometimes paid in Gundanium alloy, so Duo's ship had just another reason to be the envy of the flock. Nothing could dent the surface unless they received equal damage from the same alloy and usually that was all they shipped, Gundanium alloy. It was a tough job and typically after the delivery, Gizmo went on a week hiatus and a neighboring colony in the x sector for some R and R and repairs.

"What's in it?"

"Confidential means what Duo? You're supposed to be one of the galaxy's greatest geniuses. I'm sure you can figure it out." The man was tall, even through the monitor you could tell. His hair was red, roguish, and pulled back into a hasty ponytail at the back of his neck to end at mid back. Bangs fringed two sets of misty gray eyes in a tan humanoid face. He was at least seven years older then the Phixieous crew members and part interstellar space giant. Meaning the man was basically a wall of out standing muscle…didn't take away from his looks though that was for sure.

"Yeah, great Demavont, but we still need to know. You know how we work…or you should by now. You can at least tell us the basics and we'll let you know if there's more you should be telling us." Demavont paused, hand going towards his chin as if deep in thought.

"Alright, I'll give you the bare minimal. Only because you're my favorite transporter Duo. The shipment is going to a little place called Lajendra. It is on the outskirts of the y sector so you don't even have to go that far. With your dilly dally schedule it should only take you about three days at the least."

"Our dilly dally schedule is only caused by troublemakers who decide that my ship is better pickings then their own." Duo walked around the front of the council to plop into the slip stream chair. Ever since Trowa had been complaining about a sore back, Duo had decided to give his friend a present. When Duo had purchased the ship it was cheap and built to boring old custom regulation, but it was all he could afford, unless he wanted to sell certain body parts…something he didn't even want to consider. The chair, a rather hard and wiry device was never an issue until Trowa and he had to slip stream straight for two days in order to get those certain troublemakers of their tail. So now, they had a bran spaken new model built from fire proof fibers and stuffed with a special cushion, also fire proof, which cost a pretty dollar. Or a pretty Antarian dollar, since that was the only currency they'd accepted.

He also added his own to the chair, giving it metal casings on the arms where Trowa could control certain functions of the ship that, if Gizmo couldn't, he'd be able to get at easily. It was a commander's chair and one Duo gladly gave to his friend. He better served in making deals and fixing his baby. Plus, Tro-bear could keep him in line like no other, and for that he deserved the power Duo willingly gave him. But it was a partnership and they were both equal in each others eyes. No one was better then the other. Trowa could slip stream faster and Duo could create masterpieces faster. Trowa had once said that Duo had one up on him, that being the gift for the gab, but in return Duo said his many talents weren't as esteemed in the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers minds, more of a nuisance really. Plus, it also gave the cloy that he wasn't in charge…so he flew under the radar most of the time…okay, bare minimal, but it worked out in the end.

"Whatever Duo. If you must know, then I guess I can give you a hint, but you have to figure it out on your own. You know Lajendra's social structure at the moment don't you?" Duo and Trowa nodded in sync. "Well let's just say that without this shipment of confidential…things…they will fall into a sort of despair." Demavont picked up a glass sitting on his desk and took a drink, bringing up one generously proportioned leg onto the desk…waiting.

Duo turned to Trowa, knowing for a fact that Trowa was the go to guy on boring topics of interplanetary social structures. "All I can remember of Lajendra was that their XO secretary of colony was in a fix over a treaty with Pars. Does that have anything do with this shipment?" Trowa directed the question towards the relaxing man on screen.

"Good Trowa." He smiled, one of those sickly sweet ones that made you feel like you had a cavity. "If you want I can send up a copy of the Intergalactic Prefect GO notice on this shipment?"

Duo sat up straight in his chair, hands gripping the metallic sides until his fingers turned white. "What? You had one this entire time and you couldn't have told us in the beginning?"

Demavont slowly took his feet off his desk, setting the glass off to the sides and then rifling through stacks of papers built at least shoulder high on the left side of the desk. He made a deep grunting noise as he tried to pull a manila file from between two of those stacks and triumphantly held it close to him as the two stacks settled their rocking motions. Sometimes the man can just be too cute…which is scary all on his own, Duo thought bitterly as he watched the man reread the file in his hand.

"Yep. I asked for it about a week ago, but I only received it yesterday boys. So no fault is on me. The Intergalactic Prefect GO notice office was sort of…shall we say…busy. Now do you want it sent over to the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers ship docking registration so when you get there all you'll have to do is ask for it, or do you want to wait and receive it personally from my 'hands'?" The man leaned forward, eyes lecherously taking in Duo's currently showing midriff.

"I think we'll pick it up at the ship docking registration thank you. Just make sure I can get it on time or I won't be heading any further into the y sector. You have my word on that. Out Giz." The screen went blank and Duo turned to face his silent companion. "What do you think Mr. Silence?"

"It's a job Duo and if he has the papers, it makes it that much easier to ship." Trowa smirked down at his pint size friend, laying a hand on the chestnut head. He had always thought about that hair. His companion had told him it was the only thing linking him to his mother and he let it go. It went at least down to mid thigh and was always tightly braided. He had only seen it down a couple of times when Duo had taken a shower or the rubber band had snapped while he had been working down in the engine room. That only happened once though. After that he went out and bought the galaxies best to offer in rubber bands, guaranteed to never break or your money back as well as a free tooth brush and paste. Tooth brushes and tooth paste were hard to come by since they had been in such a popular demand when earth had made contact with the other systems. The invention was deemed genius and from there it just went down hill. A new line of tooth brushes and tooth paste were made to last for at least three to four years with the unique design placed upon them. Anyway, off of that subject.

Another feature that was considerably striking in his eyes about his friend 'was' his eyes. Never before had he seen such violet-blue eyes in all his time dealing with earthians, for Duo was a half breed. From what he could gather his family was one of a few that were tampered with on a genetic level. His mother was a human from earth living on the colonies when she had dealings with an in vitro clinic. They specialized in helping couples consummate. But what they didn't know was that it was a place designed to hamper rather then help. It wasn't illegal in those times to test human experience if given the right degree and the right amount of money. Embryology was the science of the future where your children could achieve genetic marvel status.

They played around with Duo's genes, manipulating them to their will giving him superior hearing, sight, genius, as well as splicing it with the genes of a feline and to his astonishment a parrot. He never mentioned his discovery to Duo, not knowing how the other would react about being spliced with two animals instead of one, but splicing a human with two different genomes would indefinitely hinder the brain. It would deteriorate before it ever reached puberty. That's why he was so confused by Duo. Not only was he healthy but he would continue to be healthy for an extremely long time. By splicing a feline and a bird together with a human, Duo would not only have the grace and cunning of a cat but the lifespan and intelligence of a bird.

Thereby creating what the doctors called a kitsuna hybrid. So Duo was part earthian and part kitsuna, so it was an understatement that when new and exciting things were presented to him he couldn't keep his kitty curiosity down or his bird intelligence, unless Trowa distracted him with something else. One function that Trowa never knew about the half-breeds of earthians and kistuna's was that they could hide their tails and ears if they so choose.

His friend was a conundrum one that he felt the need to protect like he was his own flesh and blood and sometimes he was the one being protected by the half-breed. Not only were Kistuna's easy on the eyes, slight of hand, and manipulative, but they were also fierce competitors with the knowledge of great things as well as the will to learn more and protect their family.

"What ya thinken' about Tro-bear?" Duo looked up through the chestnut fringe covering his eyes. Trowa looked up at the now visible star system, hand scratching casually behind Duo's ear until he heard the small intake of breath from his friend and a deep shaky groan. It was one of his favorite pastimes. Making his friend purr. Not many Kitsuna's ever did it and when one was given a chance you had to take it.

"Nothing special…just that we should get some rest. I'll take first shift, get as far as I can through slip stream and then you can take over. How does that sound?"

"Oh…um…brilliant, yep I…I like that plan." Trowa's hand moved from the others hair and an obviously petulant growl erupted from the now rather irate boy in his chair. "If you're going to do that at least give me about ten minutes or more?" Duo leaped deftly from the chair and grumbled to himself about unthankful culivateur's with knowledge they shouldn't posses. Culivateur's were a special breed of humanoid's that specialized in the growth of anything organic. They thrived in life both microscopic, to human.

Trowa shook his head and sat down lovingly in his chair, pulling the goggles from his head to rest over his eyes. He was a victim of such genetic mutations such as Duo, but unlike his friend he showed no outward signs to prove of his manipulations. He had learned early on that he could grow things with just a touch; soon all he had to do was think. He also picked up the neat trick of healing. It helped immensely when Duo got himself caught in nasty scrapes.

"Gizmo set our course for the y sector. Make sure all compartments are pressurized and please have Duo strap himself in this time. I don't feel like having to stop midway so we can scrap him off the ceiling again."

"Yes Trowa."

"Ok, in two minutes we shall have the go." Trowa pulled a harness from behind his head and buckled himself into place. He then pulled another one around his waist and slipped his feet into two slots at the bottom of the chair, effectively sealing himself in. Slip stream could be rough sometimes and precaution was his middle name.

"He's fine Trowa and all compartments have been pressurized accordingly and all hatches have been sealed. I have found a thread at coordinates 5-0-2. It's a C class stream, it shouldn't be too bumpy of a ride, but I do detect a disturbance further through. Maybe more then one ship is using it. We'll just have to be careful."

"Of course. Setting off in 5-4…" Trowa's fingers were literally a blur across the ships control panels, eyes taking in everything the goggles were showing him. "3…" How could his people not understand the beauty of both organic and inorganic, "2…" nothing made sense when he was laden down with only one, "1…" maybe I never did belong with my people, he thought bitterly, "0."


	2. Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers

**Phixieous**

Pairing: 1x2, 3+4, 13x6x5

Warning: AU, angst, humor, sap, fighting, blood, you know the whole shebang. I don't feel like telling you the entire list.

Summary: When the worlds have progressed beyond that of earth and the colonies, one ship, called the Phixieous, manned by one gifted engineer and pilot, make their way to the system that of Pars and find themselves in a bigger fix not even the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers can fight, until one agent, codenamed Heero Yuy is sent to deal with it.

Chapter 2: Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers

Slip stream was a place of no sound. It was neither cold, nor hot. Beautiful or ugly. It was suspended time, a place where you could glide from one destination to another easily. If one were to go from Earth, which was in the x sector, to Pars, in the y sector, the normal way, it would take at 'least' 3 billion human years. But through slip stream it would only take a day or two.

Trowa could see only the numbers in front of him, letting him know everything was still safe and accounted for. The disturbances Gizmo had found in the slip stream were indeed ships using the same thread, but with a bit of maneuvering one could bypass them easily. Slip streams could contain any number of things…it had no size or depth. Picture a line…a line is never ending nor is it 3-dimensional. It goes on and on for eternity in any direction. That's what a slip stream was. You could no longer define time with just a few words so one couldn't define the space of time as well. Slip stream defied the law of 3-dimensions.

A blinking light alerted Trowa to the life signs of Duo. He was waking, the 10 hour alarm must have gone off, he mused as he made measures to allow the ship to slow enough to exit slip stream safely so as not to splinch the ship into millions of pieces. Since they were mostly made of Gundanium alloy though they had a better chance of survival but no one was brave enough to experiment on slip stream travel and gundanium as of yet.

The ship soon popped, literally, out of the stream, millions of senses coming back to the fore as Trowa set the ship to a halt a safe distance from the opening and exiting of the thread. "Gizmo, give me the readings on your hull." He had detected something during their trip through suspended time he couldn't quite understand. Getting to the bottom of things while Duo made his slow progress up to command seemed logical.

"Things seem fine Trowa; whatever it was didn't leave a dent. Probably someone losing a piece of their ship…my guess." Trowa took the goggles off rubbing his eyes and yawning as he unstrapped himself. A good ten hours of sleep would do him good and by that time they should be near enough to the y sector to go through normal space. "Duo says that you should go ahead and leave, he'll be here in two minutes." Trowa nodded and set the goggles down on the chair and stumbled towards the door. Not two minutes later Duo walked in yawning and scratching the two cat ears on his head. He liked sleep, and waking was never a fun chore. "Duo, we have ten more hours of slip stream. Everything has been checked and Trowa is just now safely strapped in.

"Alright there Giz, lets go surfing." Duo grabbed the goggles and sat down heavily in the chair, pulling his braid through the strap and settling the goggles comfortably on his forehead. Reaching behind and to the side of him he pulled the straps into place. "Ok Giz…let's go visit time." Duo pulled the goggles on and once again entered the slip stream.

About nine and half hours later Duo safely touched out of slip stream, commenting about bad drivers the entire time. The trip wasn't as long as they had thought it would be. Maybe Trowa did double time while he was steering, he thought as he stretched in the chair, half listening to Gizmo listing off locations and coordinates to the y sector.

"You think I should wake Tro-bear? Would that be mean?" Duo yawned closing his eyes briefly before a shock caused him to jump from his chair. "What ya do that for?"

"Duo Maxwell! One, you know very well that boy needs what little sleep he has left and two you had your ten hours and it's time to get to work."

"Geez, mom…can't believe this. Next time I'm going first." Duo grumbled as he set to work on the documents needed to register Gizmo into the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers ship docking registration. No doubt they would hassle him again about Gizmo and her un-regulatory systems. But he had never been denied anything yet. Praying that it would never happen. Those ship docking registrators had a bug up their butts about the size of a rather healthy sun.

"Duo, Trowa is now awake and heading for the mess hall. He says for you to join him."

"Right oh'! Gets some good ol' food…or whatever we have left that is." Duo ran from command almost smacking into the slow moving door and racing towards the elevator beam. He was starving. He could eat whatever it was they had in stock. Be it beans, sprouts, or creamed beef. Well, maybe not the sprouts and beans. Five more minutes of frantic elevator beam hoping and hallway dashing Duo ran into the mess hall and spotted Trowa, casually eating from a tray. "Well, start without me why don't ya."

"I made you something already." Trowa spoke between swallowing and his next bite. All the bitterness in Duo swept away as he fell into the seat and took stock of what he had been given. "Don't fuss, that's all that was left. While we're at docking registration we need to do some shopping."

"Goodie! New food. It's my favorite part of docking registration." Duo dug his fork into a pile of what appeared to be the beans he had been talking about and chewed thoughtfully. "You know Tro-bear, after this delivery, do you think we could go planet side somewhere out of the y sector for a few days and relax. Nothing special or anything…heck I'd even just sleep here on Phixieous, but could we…please." Duo broke into the entire can of 'you can't say no to these faces' and laid them straight at the other man.

Trowa looked up and cringed away from the rather…put down face. A face of a cat that's just been kicked and stomped on after being pulled out of a lake. No one could resist Duo's patent look. Not even he…and he could say no to anything he damned well pleased. "Maybe."

That was all that was needed for Duo to practically vault across the table hugging the other to death. Yep, he loved his work…

After they had finished their meal of beans, creamed beef and a special desert of frozen strawberries that Trowa had found in the back of the pantry, they made their way to command, ready to face a couple hours of registration.

"Phixieous is docking at area blue, number 3056, floor six. Gizmo, please release hatch and pressurize cabin for entry. Duo, we are ready, meet me at the red docking cabin in five minutes." Trowa pushed the goggles up past his hair, setting Phixieous into stand by and lock down while they registered her.

Duo looked at himself in the mirror again in his room making sure he looked good enough for a guy who had been slip streaming for the past ten hours. "Alright, where did I put them…oh yeah, here we go." Duo placed a pair of tiny glasses on his face, resting them low on the bridge of his nose so he could still see over them. They were special glasses, not prescription like most glasses used to be. No, these were designed, of course by him, to serve as an x-ray and lie detector in one go. Quite handy actually, especially when one didn't want unnecessary lack of knowledge to slip by them. He was still wearing his clothes from before but only added a minor adjustment on the shoes. Duo had traded in his work boots for a cleaner pair. One couldn't pick anyone up if they were all grimy and uncaring about their appearance.

"Duo…where are you?" Trowa's voice came through…rather irritated, Duo thought hesitantly, as he grabbed his satchel and ran down the corridor. After about two minutes of speed jogging and beam hopping, Duo once again slid to a halt near Trowa who was leaning on the red docking cabin doors.

"Took long enough."

"Well I'm sorry, I couldn't find my glasses." Duo pressed the button on the left hand side of the door and grinned as Trowa hurriedly stood up from his relaxing posture to glare down at him. Plus, I also needed to recheck everything I needed was all here. I don't want them getting angry." Duo and Trowa walked into the cabin, sitting down momentarily until it was safe to exit. Duo put his satchel in front of him and started to scavenge around, yelling triumphantly when he produced two ear pieces from his bag. "This one is for you. They're new and improved from moy. They act as both hearing and speaking devices between all three of us. And I fixed that little glitch where you can't use them when in the range of a beam cannon. Funny story really…"

"Save it for later Duo." Trowa took his ear piece and placed it into his left ear. "I'll need a story to get me to sleep tonight."

"Just remember that you can't reach Gizmo unless it's an emergency since she's shut down. But you can reach me easily if there's a problem."

The hatch then opened, cool steam plastering against their faces.

"Well, let's go greet our neighborhood good guys." Duo skipped out the door, barely waiting for Trowa. They walked the length of the ramp, Duo, looking in awe through the thick glass at the station they were headed for. The Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers station was built as if it were a city in space, with only a rather thick piece of gundanium surrounding it like a ball. The docking bays were situated on the outside and to the middle of the station, six floors high, each dock jutting out like a spike for the ships to attach to. The one thing Trowa didn't like about the station was its entering units. Adjoined to the outside and a fair distance from the station were hoops that each ship had to pass through so the station could compile data on anything or anyone on the ship before reaching the registration area. It was so impersonal it kind of hurt.

"Well. Let's get this over with." He watched as Duo nodded and punched in the ships docking number in the key pad on the door. It opened emitting them entrance to another cabin.

"Please be seated for the cleansing stage." A voice, neither female nor male announced through the room and Duo and Trowa took their seats on opposite sides. Another type of steam was slowly leaked into the cabin, immersing them in both hot and cold sensations. Duo took tiny breathes as the steam clouded Trowa from his site. Then the voice announced finished stage and the steam was sucked back into the walls. Trowa and Duo stood up, feeling both refreshed and gross at the same time. How that could occur no one ever knew. It was the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers special mix. It made sure you were not contaminated with any unknown bacteria or virus that could infect the station. "Please make your way towards desk number 3056 and we hope your stay at the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers ship docking registration is pleasant."

Duo glanced at Trowa, eyes rolling in his head. Yeah, like it was going to be any more pleasant then twenty hours stuck in slip stream…maybe even worse, Duo thought to himself as the doors opened emitting them into a lobby of immense size. All around them humanoids and creatures of many different sizes and colors were walking out of their cabins on their left and right to the desks set for their docks.

Their dock number was manned by a young looking…well what appeared to be…girl. She had at least seven arms, each going a mile a minute towards different buttons at her station. Three eyes took in both her work and Duo and Trowa. She was wearing the ship docking registration uniform of a pink short dress. Her color could be described as a sickly white yellow, making the approach even more painful.

Trowa walked up first, darting between the many other workers and patrons. "Name of crew, ship, number, and business." Her voice was raspy, almost like a vocal cord ripped to shreds by years of smoking and binge drinking of antarian vodka.

"Trowa Barton and Duo Maxwell. We man the ship called Phixieous, number 238670387ez. We have come to the y sector for a pick up and deliver for a man called Demavont on Pars southern border." Trowa listed off, voice as monotonous as the aliens.

Her many fingers raced over the many different buttons and color coated keys, mumbling to her self all the way. "Yes, the Phixieous. Gizmo, am I right." She directed the question towards Duo, all three eyes narrowing.

Duo, who had been leaning against the counter and searching the crowds for any humanoid that caught his eye, swiveled about to look at the alien. Here it goes again. "Yes, Gizmo is the system that is powering the AI core of the Phixieous. Is there a problem…again?" Duo couldn't help the snipe…that is until Trowa's elbow connected into his side rather painfully. Making a ship docking registrator angry was never a good career option.

"Your ship is not Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers regulation code. It seems you have run into this many a time in the past?"

"Yes? You guys keep records of this and you're still asking me about my harmless ship?"

"Sir, when we did a scan of your ship entering we found a system that could pose a danger in the future." She paused eyes going back towards her station.

"Well, what was it?" It only took five seconds of Gizmo bashing to get his tail in a fix, he could already feel it rising. Wonder when it decided to come out of hiding, Duo wondered, knowing for a fact that it had fled at the first sign of sleep.

"Phixieous' reading show a spike in the sector where this Gizmo is attached. The AI core is being fed into a new system one that was unknown even to the systems scans. In order for us to let you through into the y sector we must know what this means." Trowa turned to glare in Duo's direction who sheepishly turned his head away.

"Oh, that…well, it's nothing really. I've decided to play around and experiment a little with the AI core and Gizmo. If you want I can give you this." Duo dug around in his satchel and pulled out a hand held computer switching it on and laying it on the desk. Duo pressed a few buttons and then pulled out a disk the size of a finger and as thin as cardboard and held it out to the alien. She took it and placed it into a slot in front of her.

"Duo, I thought I told you to wait a while before you started on this project of yours." Trowa gripped his arm eyes murderous. Every time they went through registration something like this always came up.

"Look Trowa I'm tired of waiting for them to get back to me on a conformation that I can experiment on Gizmo further. It takes them a year to do that because their so busy." Duo shot back, eyes going back towards the girl who had made a clicking noise…probably of irritation.

"Mr. Duo Maxwell, what's on this disk is grounds for docking prohibition."

Duo's eyes widened, ears arching forward. "Docking prohibition? Docking prohibition she says. Well let me tell you something. I am sick and tired of you guys harassing me and my ship every time we dock. Phixieous and her crew have done nothing wrong to warrant this 3rd degree burn you're placing on her. I'm sure your system can tell you that we have upstanding credentials, maybe better then half your ships. If you want proof that a little displacement in the AI core is not 'grounds for docking prohibition' call in Dr. Alan Shear, because I'm tired of all you 'Prefects' stepping on my tail." Said tail was whipping in every which direction, chestnut hairs sticking up like static cling. Nails digging into the metal surface of the desks, creating minute grooves on top.

The girl looked at him momentarily before going back to her council and typing in the name. Duo turned to look up at Trowa who was both stunned and angry at the same time. Duo had a temper that not even he could deal with at times and when provoked he just let loose. But when those times came and he couldn't control his friend things just became even worse for them.

"Duo…remind me to find you anger management classes."

"Excuse me, but you are free to go through the y sector in two days time. And Dr. Alan Shear asked me to tell you to meet him later today at dinner mess hall number 153 blue sector. Good day." Duo blinked taking the chip she handed back to him in awe. Wow, that was faster then I thought, Duo wondered at that for about two seconds before shrugging and stuffing the chip back into the computer and into the satchel.

"Well, Tro-bear, how 'bout we go shopping in the mean time? Oh wait, Mrs.….um, whatever. There is a package waiting for us, by a man named Demavont, like I said. You wouldn't by any chance have that here somewhere. He said he would deliver it straight to the ship docking registration?" the girl looked back down at her station, her many fingers dancing over the keys like liquid water. Finally she looked up and sighed.

"There is a package with your name on it but you will have to go to the main office to pick it up. It was sent too late in the day to process it and send it over to ship docking registration. The main office is open tomorrow. If you get there first thing in the morning the line shouldn't be to long. Good day." Trowa shook his head, knowing for a fact that Demavont didn't send it in 'right away' like he had said. If he had then it would have made its way to ship docking registration. Duo made a brief undistinguishable face, then started for the nearest 'Elevator beam', his tail now settled to a more normal stance, but the hair still had a static cling look and his ears seemed to twitch at anything around them.

"I'm going to kill you one of these days." Trowa said as he stepped onto the blue glowing light and waited for the beam to take them up towards civilian territory.


	3. Meeting Heero

**Phixieous**

Pairing: 1x2, 3+4, 13x6x5

Warning: AU, angst, humor, sap, fighting, blood, you know the whole shebang. I don't feel like telling you the entire list.

Summary: When the worlds have progressed beyond that of earth and the colonies, one ship, called the Phixieous, manned by one gifted engineer and pilot, make their way to the system that of Pars and find themselves in a bigger fix not even the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers can fight, until one agent, codenamed Heero Yuy is sent to deal with it.

**Chapter 3: Meeting Heero**

Civilian territory was basically the only place dockers could have free reign without the hassle of the Intergalactic Prefects Law Enforcers coding them every 2 seconds. Basically it was a rather large city that fitted any number of needs for the ship dockers to waste the time away. Stores for both necessary and unnecessary alike. One store Duo had a pension for was the local parts warehouse. Sometimes you could find the best of junk on hand there.

There was also a wonderful book store that both he and Trowa visited frequently during their visits. Reading was an easy pastime for someone working 24-7. If you wanted a break, dig out your mystery disk and pop it into your drive.

"Now Duo, before we can do any recreation we have to pick up provisions. So don't go wandering off like you did last time." Trowa found a directory on the side street and asked it the location of a local provisions depot. "It says it will take at least ten minutes to get too if we go on the boardwalk so let's just take the beams." Trowa walked over to the pods situated at intervals in the city. There was already a line forming around the ten open.

"You know Tro-bear, no matter how much I hate these Intergalactic no it alls…this place is kind of cool." Duo stated as he bounced ecstatically on the balls of his feet as they waited in line. "I hate these lines. They always take forever."

"You know Duo; if you'd just learned to take your patience with you once you leave Phixieous, life would be that much easier for us." Trowa walked forward, looking ahead and counting only 23 more heads in line, excluding the one with two personal heads attached to the first.

"That's harsh." Duo paused glancing around at the many different creatures about. "You know what's really strange?"

Trowa glanced behind him briefly, eyebrows rising in a silent ascent. "What is that?"

"Well, that 'wonderful' Intergalactic Prefect officer didn't find one more project I've been working on." Duo watched fascinated as Trowa whipped about, eyes wide.

"What!"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist. I just had a break through a few months ago and I started putting together a little something that would no doubt warrant a direct prohibition on their oh so mighty scale until they figured out what it was and stole my idea. I just hope they don't find it when we leave." Duo thought, fingers scratching ideally at his ears.

"What new project?" Trowa's face had now turned a very pretty shade of red…a sure sign of deep anger to come.

"Oh, I'll tell you later. This kind of conversation was not meant for the entire public of the Intergalactic Prefect Law Enforcers to hear thank you very much." Duo walked past the still irate Trowa doing a wonderful impression of a redwood and smiled as there were only five more creatures ahead of them. Things were looking up. One thing that he really didn't understand though was how they hadn't picked up on his secret and most likely, illegal project.

The IPLE didn't take kindly to unknown modifications for valid reasons. One, it could be used to gain the upper hand on the IPLE's own limited knowledge, two, they wanted any ship that was under their thumb to give them the knowledge so they could 'steal it' for a lack of a better word before the original creator could receive a patent. Tricky they were. Three, the fact that others would be smarter then the IPLE's own team of specialized scientists probably got on their nerves. That's what Duo could only perceive as to the reason for such unlawful tactics. Yes they protected the universe from the big, the bad and the ugly but sometimes they had their strings a little too tight when it came to their universal charges.

"Finally!" Duo ran towards the now open 'elevator beam' and grinned at Trowa. "Well let's go slow poke. We don't have all day." Trowa ambled into the glass shoot, blue light immersing them as Duo punched in their destination.

"Please stand by. You will reach your destination, Al's food depot, in one minute." The voice switched off and they each closed their eyes as the glass shoot closed its door. A sensation, not unlike that of jumping high into the air, surrounded them; twisting and turning until they each touched back down. A pleasant draft accompanied the silent trip, like it was trying to catch up to the two that had flown so far in such a short distance. The door swished open on its power wheels to emit them to a brighter part of town. "Please, welcome to the red district where all your kitchen shopping needs are met."

Duo bounded out of the compartment noting another set of tubes on the opposite side of the street where more lines were being made. "Let's go find food." Duo wandered off taking in the sights before him like oxygen. The stores were set up almost as if the builder had been high, or at least too brilliant for normal terms. The buildings were basically stacked one on top of the other with stairs on the side to get to them. The smallest stores only had three layers. The biggest had at the most ten. Probably wanted to squeeze in as many as they could in such a vast area, Duo had thought during their first visit to the station. There was a store to their right selling only appliances, such as microwaves, which now where made to heat 'micro meals', a new invention that made things such as a whole turkey for thanksgiving or a portion of scrambled eggs, all packaged in a tiny little 1x1 inch square. On their left was another store selling fresh fruits from any known planet in the y sector. Some were a yellow puckish color and some seemed to bounce right off their shelves. To say they steered clear of such strange food was a wise choice in deed. If you were going to eat something, you wanted to make sure it stayed on your plate.

A little ways up they found Al's Food Depot where all your flying meal needs were met. It was a second story building of three, meaning it was larger then the average stores. They climbed the stairs bypassing the milling crowd also going up and down. Inside was a mirage of endless shelves. Moving walkways were provided for people that didn't know how to get to a certain product and large hovering directories pestered you at the beginning of the store until you reached the starting point of 'Grains'.

"I'll go to the vegetable and grain section, since you never pick out anything healthy and you go to the meat and dairy section. Find 'quality' things Duo…not just ground beef. I'll meet you in fruits." Trowa ambled away again, walking faster then the moving walkway towards the left side of the store. Duo grumbled on about eating awful vegetables and picked up a basket. He pressed the activating button on the handle and headed towards the meat department. By activating the basket, you not only calculate the price of the items you selected as you go but also enable the basket to become weightless no matter how heavy the items or quantity. Yep, people had become lazy now a day.

Duo ambled past the Antarian section, as well as Olta's, Veters, Mecha's, and plenty more species whose names could not be pronounced in the human tongue before he arrived at the aisle safe for human and or humanoid consumption. "Gotta love these wonderful ways of organization."

"Let's see, I believe this will do." Duo picked up a packet of 70 Micro Meals, steak-cut 5x6, and then a packet of 100 Micro Meals, pork chops-cut medium. "Well, where are those corn dogs he likes so much?" Duo went about the long aisle reading the titles of cow/nor tongue, yuck, ribs, snatch two of those, liver, double yuck, ground beef/norrf, snagged one of those, and hot dogs, can't stand plain ones anymore, he thought not seeing any corn dogs anywhere. Corn dogs as well as hot dogs had become a universal food that had been taken from earth as ingenious. They were famous but it was getting harder and harder to know what was in the regular hot dog, corn dogs were easier to judge because Trowa had basically grew up with them. He said they were safe, so Duo naturally believed him. "Where the heck are the corn dogs?"

"Are you looking for these?" A deep voice cut through his musings and Duo looked to his right to find a packet of 200 count Micro Meal corn dogs under his noise.

"Oh, great. Thank you. I thought they were out or something." Duo dumped the packet into his already loaded basket and looked up at his 'savor', who knew what Trowa would do if they didn't have his annual fix. Their storage had run out several months ago and they never restocked their supplies until their entire stock ran low enough to be in the red, meaning ten year old cans of beans, sprouts and creamed beef, yep, they had been in there for a long time.

The man before him, for that was what he was, a humanoid type akin to Trowa and himself, and nearly dropped the basket in his arms. When he thought of homing in on a thirty minute hotty for their two day 'vacation' he didn't expect to find the universes god standing not two feet from him. Tall, dark and handsome were his favorite combinations just like his coffee, another earthly item taken as a blessing. A good dose of caffeine in any ones blood, human or no, was a brilliant thing, and the smell, now that could just wake you up alone.

And to mention smells was this exceedingly good looking stranger wearing cologne…aftershave? He smelled spicy, heady in an almost hot and cinnamony way. Very intoxicating. Duo shook himself, blinking back to reality…maybe to intoxicating.

The man was at least a good two feet taller then Duo's own 5'6, and had a head of unruly chocolate brown hair. Oh yeah, got to remember the chocolate, Duo thought, sidetracking at the thought of having the sweet creamy goodness again. The hair fell over two eyes of the strangest blue Duo had ever seen in his life. It was akin to the electric blue the 'elevator beams' produced but with a less glowly look. His eyes spoke volumes…he was dangerous…that's what they said.

He was wearing 'civilian' attire and not that of an IPLE worker, thank god, Duo put in, don't want to open a can of worms like that on my social life. It was a strange set of clothing, most likely from one of the neighboring planets in the y sector. He wore a pair of regular black pants but with electric blue straps crisscrossing over each leg in an appealing, haphazard kind of way. Then there was the shirt, one of those second skin kind of dealio's the color of earth's blue sky gone stormy. Over that was a leather jacket, which surprised Duo since he hadn't seen much leather lately, thinking it was used for better things such as gun holsters and boots. If he owned a leather jacket, it could only mean immense cash flow…not that that was what Duo looked for in a playmate. Money was never a good thing to dig your hands into, especially if that person was a greedy sun of a bitch.

And looking down briefly Duo noticed that the man did in fact have on leather boots, shining brightly in the warehouses brilliant fluorescent lights. Yep, rich radar alert, rich radar alert, step back from the rich hot man and make a run for it, Duo's inner monologue took over, warning him about the many times he had disobeyed and gotten into trouble and hurt himself both physically and emotionally.

"Um, well thanks then. Excuse me." Duo gave the man a smile before walking past him, tail twitching unconsciously behind him. He didn't like having something that good looking being flaunted right under his nose, and he couldn't do more then look. Duo began his search again, aware that he had to get over to dairy and then meet Trowa over in the fruit aisle shortly. Oh, good, one of his favorites, 150 count Micro Meal chicken/avika/terra-cut to breast, wing, thigh and drum stick.

Duo glanced up after looking at the price of the items in the basket that had reached about 200 Antarian dollars, which wasn't too bad considering Antarian dollars had gone up in value over the years. The man was still there; actually he was picking up a packet of the chicken himself only a 100 count instead. "You know, the 150 count has smaller chickens then the 100." Duo felt his ears perk at the knowledge. He didn't know that, he just thought that the chickens were chicks…or something…they tended to kill the smaller ones and let the older ones live so they could harvest the eggs. Shows how much he followed food politics.

"I didn't know that." He said politely as he rechecked the aisle's, moving slowly away and towards the end where he would then turn and hit dairy. Finally he found the last items he was looking for, sausages, bacon, corn beef, and salami. Meat done! "Well, it was nice meeting you…um…"

"Heero, Heero Yuy." Duo glanced briefly to his left, his glasses showing no sign of ill begotten information trying to be passed by him in the form of a truth. So the man's name was Heero Yuy. The man walked back up to him, casually holding out his right hand, his left still holding the chicken. "Are you stocking up, or do you just get that hungry." Heero hadn't smiled, not once since their meeting, and with that kind of sarcastic statement one would expect a grin at least. No the man's face was immovable, but his eyes portrayed the humor in his comment instead.

"Yeah, stocking. All we had left was sprouts and creamed beef. Not exactly healthy if you ask me." He took the man's…Heero's, hand and shook it, surprised by the strong grip returned. Heero's strength was subtle but there none the less… Could probably bend steel…maybe even Gundanium, Duo thought privately as he slackened his grip, waiting for the other to do so as well.

"Hope to see you again sometime…" the man walked away, not even waiting for Duo to give him his name. All for the better though, best not to get involved…he nodded to himself, glad that the decision was taken out of his hand. Plus, it wasn't exactly a vacation; they had a lot to do to get ready for the new delivery that would need all his concentration. Plus tomorrow they would have to haul their butts down to the main registration office to pick up the GO notice that Demavont had surely sent at the last minute. Sometimes he just wanted claw the man until he was bloody.

Duo, none the less, sighed as Heero Yuy walked away, eyes taking in the information his glasses were labeling about the stranger's body. No diseases of any kind, in perfect condition, stressed on the perfect, but there was something his glasses couldn't get a grip on. The man was not just a humanoid, he was also tampered with on the genetic level like he and Trowa had been but beyond that Gizmo could pick up nothing else through the glasses.

"Alright. We only need milk 500 count will do, cheese-50 count, and yes…cottage cheese-20 count. Don't want Trowa getting all hissy." Duo said to himself as he made his way out of the aisle, heading for fruits. He could see Trowa, a sore thumb amid a group of blob like creatures that were sniffing the dry packages as if they could smell the fruit right through them. "Hey love, how goes it?"

The difference between meals that could be cooked in a microwave and those that were served cold were either to put it under cold water or immense freezing air. That way the moisture would be taken back into the cold product and pump itself back to its original form.

Trowa looked up from his search and smirked at the rather flushed look on his companion. Food always seemed to brighten his half-breed Kitsuna. "Not bad. I found mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower for you."

"Really, awesome…cause I grabbed the cheese!" Duo held the packet up happily before tossing it back in the basket. "Now, I know that we can only get two fruits so how 'bout you pick one and I pick one? How's that?"

"I was just about to suggest that anyway Duo." The man went back to looking through the banana packages, causing Duo to groan miserably. Banana's…nasty. Trowa gave him a look before he skittered away a little further down the aisle looking for a particular red fruit he had come to enjoy. It almost tasted like a mixture of cherries and grapes. It was harvested from a planet that was basically all plant life. Raining constantly with a sun much like earth's on the off days. It was called Oltava passion. The red was a sweeter variation while the white was dry…like white wine.

Finally, one of the last ones left, Duo pounced triumphantly and held a 30 count of a serving size of 4 in each cube. Just add water and they were as good as the day they were picked. It was a good bargain for sure.

"Did you find your sugar?" Trowa appeared beside him, looking at the package clutched in Duo's claws.

"It's not just sugar, thank you very much. It's very healthy." Duo placed it reverently among the other items in his basket and took a look at Trowa's. "Oh, man, you got asparagus? Yuck."

"Would you rather I got watered spinach?" Trowa asked sweetly as he took the asparagus out of his basket heading back towards the vegetable aisle but Duo grabbed a hold of the packet and put it back in Trowa's basket.

"No need for that crap getting on Phixieous. It'd kill her…and me." They then headed towards the back of the warehouse where all the dried and miscellaneous foods were kept.

"Now, please read the labels before you blindly start to throw things into your basket this time. I'd rather not have to deal with that whole dried arachnid problem again."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's see, we need ketchup…salt and pepper. What else?" Duo went over to Trowa and peaked about as he took a small clear bottle off the shelf labeled mustard.

"For the corn dogs." He said in a tiny voice as he walked back towards the front of the store where the cashiers were waiting. Before Duo followed he ran to the back of the aisle and grabbed a cube the size of his hand containing the gut rot he enjoyed so much. Caffeine through sparky cola, galaxy's best made soda. They still needed to get water but since they would need vast amounts of it they'd go to a store down the way that specialized in water and shipment.

Their total caused Trowa to glance sharply at Duo, who had snuck at least a years worth of chocolate and coffee into their baskets. "I need my caffeine." He said petulantly as Trowa reluctantly paid the smiling humanoid behind the counter. They watched as their groceries were loaded into a tube near the girl, ready to be sent to their ships docking loaders. Special treatment for those that asked for it. Some creatures absently thought to carry their bundles around with them everywhere not knowing that their docking fees covered the loading service.

"Now, the water and then you can go gallivanting off. You have your ear piece turned on?" Duo nodded and they headed over to Water Works for 'All Your Dehydrating Needs'. The main area was fundamentally a walk in fish tank, except they were the fish. They went to one of the individually manned stations and ordered the amount of water by selecting which package they desired. In the end they received a total of 6000 gallons to put into Phixieous' tanks for drinking, bathing and other tedious needs required around a ship.

"Now can we go play?"

"You know. For a brilliant man, you sure act like a child often enough." Trowa and Duo walked out of the store heading back towards the 'elevator beams' that would take them to their separate entertainments. "When you're done, head towards the mess hall in say about and hour or so. Don't dawdle. We should get as much rest as we can tonight." They had reached the lines, which were not as bad as the first ones were.

"Righty'o there. Never want to miss a meal with good ol' Dr. Alan Shear. Haven't seen him in a long time."

"Duo…I know this man was…is, an old friend, but still be careful of what you say to him…or what you say in that mess hall. Remember it's not a civilian diner. It's for IPLE workers."

"Yeah, I know that mother hen. Plus, Shear's been a good, faithful man to us for several years, keeping his mouth shut about anything he learns. Nothing bad has come up so far. Why start thinking bad things about him now?"

"Its not that I'm thinking bad of him, it's that, with the IPLE tightening its belt now, you may want to take it easy on who you share your…talents with." Trowa worriedly put an arm around his friend's shoulder, his one visible eye twinkling with sincerity.

"Alright Tro-bear. You don't have to give me that look to get your point across." Duo crossed his arms over his chest, leaning into the comforting shoulder. Sometimes, Trowa just seemed to press all the right buttons unknowingly.


End file.
